This is an excellent thread! I have a question and apologies if it is answered elsewhere. If we have invested in bonds and mostly US treasury bonds to reduce risks, what is the effect if the congress does not raise the debt ceiling? Does that automatically mean the US defaults on its debt and does t...

A home equity loan or line of credit would be another option and might have lower loan origination costs. A local credit union would be a good place to check for home equity loans. What is your current mortgage rate at? If it is already low then doing a Refi could increase that rate. we do not have...

(0.5%) At the end of each month I spend 15 minutes logging into our financial accounts and updating account balances on a homegrown spreadsheet. I do this exercise for two reasons. First, I audit account activities to confirm no unexpected transactions occurred during the month. Second, I like havi...

My written plan has the ridiculous statement that one should sell (go to cash) if a US recession is imminent, and hold if it is not, irrespective of market movement. As reasonable analysts (e.g. Bill McBride) were calling a recession in 2008, I would have (and did) sell. To the OP....what are you g...

i am mostly silent, but read the forum often. on bad market days, i come here and the calculated risk blog for solace. and i stay the course. i wanted to buy on friday, but we have been accumulating cash for a large purchase. so we stick to the plan. thanks to all the great advice on this forum. :D

that is awesome! i encourage you to include vitamins/supplements in your mix of homemade dog food. calcium and potassium are important to dogs and the ratio of them is also important. adding some organ meats 1x or 2x per week is a good idea (alternating heart, liver, kidney) and adding raw eggs or l...

Hi all, I am hoping to get some advice here......I noticed today that a legacy 401K held at JPMorgan no longer holds the VINIX shares we previously held. When I look at transactions, VINIX was sold on 8/29/14 and shares in LifePlan 2030 were purchased. VINIX is still offered in the Fund Plan......so...

this is a timely article as i have been trying to get a better understanding of bond allocations in our accounts. i realize that this article is specifically about low quality munis, but my question is about low quality bonds in general. doesn't this same logic apply? side note: when i do portfolio ...

i use my oven with sheet trays and stainless steel (oven safe) cooling racks set inside them so air can circulate. my oven's lowest temperature setting is 100F, but if you only want to make jerky, 165 or 170 will do the trick.

I find that fatty foods offer the greatest amount of satiety and help me stay very lean. Usually for breakfast I have bulletproof coffee with grass fed butter and MCT oil added to it. Then I have 3 eggs and half an avocado. This usually keeps me full till 1pm. For lunch I usually make a monster sal...

after 20+ years in my field, and at the urging of my husband, i took what was to be a 1 year sabbatical (not sanctioned by the company, left my job) and am now almost 10 years out of the workforce. 1 year into it, i started to reconnect with colleagues to look for a new job but my husband almost see...

we were fortunate to go to caneel bay a few years ago (on the company dime) and it was amazing. i highly recommend it, especially if you want something romantic. no phones or tv's in the room, but they do have wifi.

why does vanguard's target retirement fund 2025 have MORE international bond in it than the 2030 target retirement fund? Just because it has more bonds overall. The US/international percentage breakdown for the bonds is the same (~80% US, ~20% international). o that makes sense, thank you oblivious...

i don't have it and unclear as to whether i will include it or not. i am not sure about the risk and as a relatively new boglehead investor i want to study it a little more. but i do have a question that i noticed the other day: why does vanguard's target retirement fund 2025 have MORE international...

fwiw i got a nice engagement ring for my first marriage, where i left in less than 2 years after realizing my mistake: good on paper but not enough chemistry. eloped the second time around, no ring offered at our 1 year first date anniversary sunset when my husband proposed. didn't even think about ...

I recommend replacing your High Yield Muni with Long-Term Muni (VWLUX). No AMT and higher quality. Both have duration of approx. 6.7 years high yield SEC 3.23% and long term is 2.92% (31 basis points difference) high yield has 16% of assets that can be taxed via AMT. high yield has 23% of below A r...

It looks like excessive margin debt is back. Should we be worried? http://advisorperspectives.com/dshort/charts/markets/nyse-margin-debt.html?NYSE-margin-debt-SPX-since-1995.gif Maybe, maybe not. https://philosophicaleconomics.wordpress.com/2013/10/25/margin-debt/ That's a fantastic blog, if anyone...

We told our families. They all knew from previous conversations that we were working on paying off our mortgage. Other than family, there have been a few close friends that know our spending habits and that we sometimes have financial discussions with that know we are mortgage-free, but we don't go...

hubby is a saver and i am a spender, so he has definitely helped me rein in my spending and live under our means. i was in debt when we got married and we corrected it right away and never had a problem since (17 years later). even though we have had some big disagreements regarding money for purcha...

we have been incredibly happy with our recent sofa and occasional chair purchases from room and board. the quality, the delivery and customer support have been phenomenal. i find their quality to be quite a bit higher than crate and barrel for the price, although we have a very nice dining table fro...

@matjen - that family guy clip is hilarious! we also love stewie in our house. :) you hit the nail on the head about his turnaround. mcconaughey was on cbs sunday morning last weekend talking about his recent change in career direction: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/matthew-mcconaughey-on-dallas-buy...

we were HUGE "breaking bad" fans! right now our by a landslide favorite show is "true detective" on HBO. very dark, but really great story and acting. matthew mcconaughey is really FANTASTIC in this drama, nothing like his rom-com movies of the past. o, and the music is also fantastic, i think t bon...

i have a quick question: if my husband set up a traditional IRA in 2013 at vanguard and has not converted it/moved it to a roth ira, is it too late now that its 2014? he has no other IRA accounts. he would also like to contribute the max in 2014 to the roth ira. lastly, can the conversion be done on...

i have hardwood and carpets and 2 small dogs and i LOVE my miele cannister vacuum....best one i've ever owned. i used to go by consumer reports, but had the hoover they ranked at the top for years and it was junk compared to my miele.

i'm with tuckeverlasting about carefully sourcing fish - not only for environmental reasons and mercury levels but also because over 90% of fish - even wild caught in the US - is sent to china for processing and then sent back to the US. http://www.fishwatch.gov/features/top10seafoods_and_sources_10...